Jeff Samardzija (4-11, 5.05) gave up five runs on eight hits and a walk in four and a third innings with three strikeouts. Cahill ground out and Franchy Cordero scored in the third inning. Hector Sanchez hit a lead-off home run in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Matt Szczur scored on a Jose Pirela single, Sanchez doubled to drive in Carlos Asuaje, and Wil Myers scored on Cory Spangenberg‘s ground out. Asuaje singled in the sixth inning to drive in Craig Stammen. Myers hit a lead-off home run in the seventh inning. Pirela tripled to drive in Szczur and Pirela scored on an Asuaje single in the eighth inning. Hunter Renfroe scored scored on a Szczur single, a Pirela single drove in Erick Aybar, and Szczur scored the go-ahead run on Asuaje’s single in the eleventh inning.

No matter what’s happening at the big-league level, the Padres have collected an overwhelming amount of talent over the last few years. Even though Manuel Margot, Austin Hedges, and Hunter Renfroe all graduated from last year’s top 20, the system right now is arguably just as good, with the emergence of prospects like Fernando Tatis Jr., Eric Lauer, and Michel Baez. Michael Gettys, ranked seventh on our list at the end of last season, didn’t even crack our top 20 this go around, and he’s having a fine season as a 21-year-old in Lake Elsinore (okay, the strikeouts are a concern). And there are a bunch of other intriguing names that also fell short.

Over the last couple of weeks, the What’s Brewing On The Farm crew has been huddled at Padres Public headquarters, trying to sort out this heap of exciting prospects. Our creation is a midsummer’s top 20 for your enjoyment.

Campusano, a bat-first backstop, is the opposite of the other catcher the Padres took early in this year’s draft, Blake Hunt. You could probably take either one, depending on your preference for polished defense vs. bigger offensive potential at catcher. Campusano’s tool set includes plenty of bat speed and over-the-fence power, the kind of raw offensive skills that work at any position. He’s 18, so there’s still plenty of work to do on the offensive side of the ball, but the main question with Campusano might be how the work behind the dish progresses.

Eric Longenhagen had a mostly negative report on his defense from a late-June viewing, but it’s early. On the plus side, it’s possible his bat makes him an interesting prospect even at first base or in an outfield corner, but obviously that kind of switch would put a dent into his prospect status. For now, cross your fingers and hope the Padres can develop Campusano into a good catcher. Remember, Yasmani Grandal was once viewed as a bat-first catcher too. (Sac Bunt Dustin)

His slash line has dipped to .230/.280/.414 after a hot start, his wRC+ to 82. Worse, he’s striking out like Adam Dunn swinging a broom stick in the second game of a double-header after an all-night kegger. As Patrick Brewer noted the other day, Cordero is K-ing at a 44.7 clip on the season, and that number is actually up recently. In eight games since June 18, he’s somehow whiffed 17 times in 24 plate appearances (that’s 70.8 percent) while recording no hits and no walks. Among 357 hitters with at least 90 PAs this season, Cordero has the third-worst contact rate at 59.7 percent. There’s small sample size randomness and then there’s whatever this is.

With Manuel Margot back, Cordero’s been pushed to the bench for now. It seems likely that, for the balance of the year, Cordero will either return to Triple-A to work on making more contact or get regular playing time in left/center with the big club. It makes little sense to use him as a bench piece in the majors now, especially on a team that doesn’t have to worry about trying to win games late with a defensive replacement and/or pinch runner. He needs playing time somewhere.

While Cordero’s first month in the majors has been full of ups (the early power) and downs (all the strikeouts), with a recent trend toward more downs, here’s one good thing that’s been constant: he’s fast.

Let’s face it, the bunt gets a bad rap these days, especially the sacrifice bunt. We’re in an era where some form of analytics plays a roll in every front office, and air-ball revolutionaries roam the dugouts; nobody on the periphery of either movement is espousing the virtues of the bunt. Shoot, there are multiplevarieties of shirts available for anyone who wants to flaunt their anti-bunt lifestyle.

I’ll concede that the pure sacrifice bunt is often a bad play, the kind where you’re telegraphing the bunt early, where the defense is anticipating it, and where there’s little chance of anything good happening beyond moving a runner up a base in exchange for an out. When getting one run is super important, and maybe the batter isn’t so hot, this can be a good play. Often, though, both the run and win expectancy will drop if you pull off a “successful” sacrifice bunt in this scenario.

Take a look at Franchy Cordero‘s bunt from last night, though. To set the scene: the Padres are up one in the seventh, with Cory Spangenberg on first and one out. Forgetting the tank here, a run is important but not necessarily critical in the context of trying to win the game.

Sometimes things can get a little fuzzy after an afternoon at the pub. Here’s a friendly reminder of what you may have missed while you were drinking.

The Padres (28-41) scored more runs than the Milwaukee Brewers (37-33) yesterday, 7-5 in eleven innings, at Miller Park.

Dinelson Lamet (2-2, 7.50) gave up three runs on four hits and no walks while striking out twelve in six innings. The twelve strikeouts were the most by a Padres rookie pitcher since Oliver Perez‘ thirteen on July 7, 2002. For the second game in a row, all of the Brewers’ runs came from home runs. In the third inning, Orlando Arcia hit an inside-the-park and Eric Thames hit a two-run. Keon Broxton hit a two-run shot in the tenth inning off Brandon Maurer. Phil Maton struck out the final two Brewers’ hitters to record his first Major League save.

Sometimes things can get a little fuzzy after an afternoon at the pub. Here’s a friendly reminder of what you may have missed while you were drinking.

The Padres (27-40) scored more runs than the Cincinnati Reds (29-36) in yesterday’s series finale at Petco Park, 4-2.

Jhoulys Chacin (6-5, 5.10) allowed two runs on five hits and a walk in seven inning while striking out four. Jose Peraza led off the game with a home run in the first inning. Joey Votto hit a solo home run in the fourth inning.

The Padres are off today as they travel to Miller Park to take on the Milwaukee Brewers (34-32) for three game starting tomorrow at 5:10pm PDT. Miguel Diaz (1-1, 6.92) starts Friday’s game against Junior Guerra (1-1, 2.45).Read More…

Sometimes things can get a little fuzzy after an evening at the pub. Here’s a friendly reminder of what you may have missed while you were drinking.

The Padres (25-40) scored more runs than the Cincinnati Reds (29-34) last night, 9-3, in the first of three games at Petco Park.

Luis Perdomo (1-3, 5.16) finally recorded his first win of 2017, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six and two-thirds innings. Scott Schebler hit an two-run single in the first inning. Scooter Gennett‘s RBI single in the seventh inning drove in Schebler for the Reds’ third and final run.

Bronson Arroyo (3-5, 7.01) pitched four and two-thirds innings, surrendering nine runs on thirteen hits and no walks while striking out two. Yangervis Solarte drove in Jose Pirela with a single in the first inning. In the second inning, the Padres beat up on Arroyo with Austin Hedges‘ two-run double, an RBI single by Pirela, a two-run home run by Franchy Cordero (his first in the Major Leagues), and a Solarte home run. Wil Myers hit an RBI single in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Hedges singled but was thrown out trying to take second and Cory Spangenberg scored in the process.

Eric Skoglund (1-1, 5.59) lasted just one and a third innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout. In the first inning, Wil Myers scored on Austin Hedges‘ RBI single. Chacin hit a double in the second inning, driving in Erick Aybar. Matt Szczur hit a pinch-hit solo home run in the seventh inning. In the eighth inning, a double by Franchy Cordero drove in Aybar and Szczur, and Yangervis Solarte popup was misplayed for a single, scoring Cordero.

This afternoon, Miguel Diaz (1-1, 7.50) gets his first Major League start against former Padre Ian Kennedy (0-6, 5.33). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 starting at 1:10pm PDT.Read More…

Luis Perdomo (0-3, 5.47) pitched four innings, giving up five runs on five hits and four walks with one strikeout. In the third inning, a three-run home run by Jake Lamb and a two-run home run by Brandon Drury was all the Diamondbacks would need. But David Peralta scored on a wild pitch to Lamb and Lamb’s single drove in Paul Goldschmidt in the seventh inning.

Zack Greinke (8-3, 3.20) surrendered three runs on seven hit and a walk in five innings while striking out eight. Yangervis Solarte hit a solo home run in the first inning. Franchy Cordero tripled and scored on Solarte’s single in the third inning. Cordero’s single drove in Jose Pirela in the fifth inning. Pirela’s eight inning single drove in Allen Cordoba.